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Union of Free Habitats
The Union of Free Habitats, aka Quaddiespace, was a group of independent space stations and hollowed-out asteroids populated mostly by quaddies. Their stellar system was located out near the edge of Sector V; it had two asteroid rings, and astrographically it had two planetary system neighbors.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 3 History Approximately 200 years before Miles Vorkosigan's time, the quaddies were created by an Earth-based company, GalacTech, as a free-fall-dwelling form of humanity. After a time, they fled from GalacTech to what was then the outer limits of the wormhole nexus.Falling Free The first station they built was named Graf Station, after Leo Graf, the engineer who helped them in their flight.Diplomatic Immunity By Miles Vorkosigan's time, their population was about 1 million, and the Nexus had grown enough around them that they had two neighbors and a reasonably large amount of interstellar traffic visiting them.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 3 Politics The society's political structure was based on the work gang, with a leadership committee called the Board of Directors of the Union of Free Habitats. As a society, they were extremely egalitarian and their access to the galactic information exchange was, as a result, extremely open -- almost as much so as Beta Colony was.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 4 Culture The stations were usually not provided with gravity, except in certain areas where downsiders (legged humans) were likely to visit. Graf Station, which was built partly from a small metallic asteroid and partly from the original reconfigured jumpship that the quaddies fled in, had a mix of grav and free-fall regions because it had considerable interaction with galactic visitors. At the time of Diplomatic Immunity, it sustained a population of approximately 50,000.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 2 Miscellaneous cultural details *The Madame Minchenko Memorial Auditorium was named for Ivy Minchenko, who joined them in their journey; the quaddies performed free-fall dance and musical performances there.Diplomatic Immunity all, but particularly chapter 6''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' computer 6 *There were four other stations with grav regions: Metropolitan, Sanctuary, Minchenko, and Union Station. Union Station also held the Quaddies' seat of government.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 3 Sanctuary Station made good tools.Diplomatic Immunity chapter 8 *Quaddies had one name. Instead of a surname, they had a numerical suffix if other quaddies with the same given name were currently living. Leo was a particularly popular name, with a known example of a "Leo 99.""Labyrinth"Diplomatic Immunity chapter 6 *Quaddies tended to be very law-abiding and safety-conscious. They wore color-coded uniforms corresponding to their work groups (yellow shirts and shorts were for construction workers, orange was for docks and locks, and so forth).Falling FreeDiplomatic Immunity Famous People From Quaddiespace *Leo GrafFalling Free *Warren MinchenkoFalling Free *Ivy MinchenkoFalling Free chapters 12-15 *Liz Villanova (Mama Nilla)Falling Free *Ti GulikFalling Free *ClaireFalling Free *TonyFalling Free *SilverFalling Free *SiggyFalling Free *AgbaFalling Free chapter 14 *PramodFalling Free *Nicol"Labyrinth"Diplomatic Immunity *Garnet FiveDiplomatic Immunity *Senior Sealer GreenlawDiplomatic Immunity *Adjudicator LeutwynDiplomatic Immunity *Boss WattsDiplomatic Immunity *Crew Chief VennDiplomatic Immunity *Bel Thorne probably became a citizen after the events of Diplomatic ImmunityDiplomatic Immunity Notes and references Category:Planets Category:Quaddiespace